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In the discussion on this meta question, I made a comment in passing that I thought there were too many CW questions on the site at present.

While this may be a transient phenomenon while the site is being seeded, I thought it brought up important issues about whether certain questions should be CW or just closed.

So my question is:

What is a clear policy to determine which questions should be deemed CW, which answers should be made CW, and which questions should just be closed ?

As a reference point for discussion, I'll refer people to this meta thread on MO, where many of the issues we're facing have been discussed.

In keeping with the spirit of that discussion, since I do think that there is a good answer and that people's direct experiences are helpful, I'm NOT making this CW. I also think that the reduction in points for upvotes on questions actually makes me more comfortable about this, since my ability to acquire rep points is limited in comparison to people with good answers.

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One possible solution could be to encourage people to discuss things like conferences, books, etc. here on meta.

Then we might have more people visiting meta, too, and the "real" meta questions would get more attention as well. The front page of the main site wouldn't be flooded with CW updates. Those who don't like "soft" questions can ignore meta. And those who enjoy soft questions and think that they are an essential part of community-building, can continue to do it on meta.

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  • $\begingroup$ That's an interesting idea - I haven't thought thru the ramifications of it though. $\endgroup$
    – Suresh Venkat
    Commented Aug 22, 2010 at 23:48
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    $\begingroup$ [reference-request]s should be made on the main site, I think. $\endgroup$
    – Charles Stewart
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 13:56
  • $\begingroup$ That would not be appropriate. Meta is set up for discussing the site and its operation... not for dumping questions that were deemed inappropriate for the main site. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 18:03
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    $\begingroup$ @Robert: Hypothetically, what would happen if the community decided to abuse meta this way?-) $\endgroup$
    – Jukka Suomela
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 18:19
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    $\begingroup$ @Jukka Suomela: "what would happen if ..." Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light. Crossing the Streams... Or it would be closed as off-topic. Either one. $\endgroup$
    – Robert Cartaino
    Commented Aug 23, 2010 at 18:41
  • $\begingroup$ @Robert: Who would close these as off-topic? Assuming the community agrees to the approach, would the SE team close them? $\endgroup$
    – Shane
    Commented Aug 24, 2010 at 16:32
  • $\begingroup$ @Shane: I'm reminded of the HISTORY ERASER button - Stimpy: "What's it do?" Ren: "We don't know. Maaaaybe something bad. $\endgroup$
    – Charles Stewart
    Commented Aug 26, 2010 at 11:43

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